Roadside Recovery Article/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Sooler

On the back of a Morrisons receipt today is this offer ...

25% off RAC membership
Quote DT0299

monlchr

i used first call this year to travel to europe.. at dover we had an oil leak and we called them out. the man who came said it was nothing serious.............how wrong he was anyway we broke down in the middle of france and the first call service was TERRIBLE.. to cut a long story short we needed a gearbox oil leak was from there. i stood in a phone box for 6 hours waiting for them to phone me back..never did. i spent over £50 on phone cards and over £200 on my mobile.. the staff were not helpful in anyway. we were towed to a nissan garage who could not repair it and the hassle i had trying to get them to take us to another garage was awfull.. belive me there is a lot more and i would not recommend them

beth_2-2

Last year i paid £32 for RAC cover. Haven't used it for a year, but when renewal came, the new cost was £43!
I rang them - using the 0800 no. from your reccommended site- not the 0870 no. that they gave me- said i wanted to cancel cos of increase and as new customers can join online for £30.50. after smugly telling me that i couldn't rejoin without a 120 day break,and my equally smug comment that i could join the AA imediately, they decided £30.50 was a reasonable amount for me to pay.
am sure more experienced moneysaver could've got it even cheaper.

MarkyMarkD

I still don't understand why people will pay £30.50 (or whatever) for very basic AA/RAC cover, when they can get comprehensive cover elsewhere for less. The big name isn't worth that much, you know!

anniecave

I have some questions, please!

Does FirstAid cover running out of petrol or keys locked in car?

I was trying to moneysave last time I renewed my breakdown, but I didn't suceed because (going in order down the moneysupermarket insurance list):

FirstAssist have a £50 excess on homestart
FirstCall don't cover keys locked in car or running out petrol (my current provider does)
Pay and Reclaim - what does £60 homestart mean? is that an hour? and am I right it is only £100 on accommodation for all passengers? And also I wouldn't have £60 cash on me to pay them, would they take debit or credit cards?
EuropAssist was the one I was with so I just renewed with them.

I think i'll be doing RAC via clubcard vouchers next time - that is a good deal I reckon!

ohreally

beth wrote:

Last year i paid £32 for RAC cover. Haven't used it for a year, but when renewal came, the new cost was £43!
I rang them - using the 0800 no. from your reccommended site- not the 0870 no. that they gave me- said i wanted to cancel cos of increase and as new customers can join online for £30.50. after smugly telling me that i couldn't rejoin without a 120 day break,and my equally smug comment that i could join the AA imediately, they decided £30.50 was a reasonable amount for me to pay.

Given thier smugness and as they attempted to rip you off,why would you want to give them the renewal bussiness?

MarkyMarkD

Annie

Do you mean AutoAid? And if so, the answer is YES.

feival

I have just bought the Autoaid policy for £29 for my wife and I which covers both of our cars. The policy seems like a steal to me. I will also need cover for Europe later this year and they have offered me a policy (not Autoaid but another provider but eh smae assistant offered it to me) Europe cover at £18 for 5 days or £22 for 10 days for any car less than 10 years old - mine is 9 years old! Can anyone beat that?

mike800966_2

I took out First Call Breakdown insurance because of the complications of towing a dinghy on trailer with a campervan. The website says its all covered but after we had bought the policy and to be quite sure about the details, I rang them. The person on the phone specifically confirmed that the trailer was not covered.
When we had a serious problem with the trailer on the M6 I sorted it myself, but it woud have been easier and nicer to have called them out.
I fear that you get what you pay for and the hard shoulder is not a nice place to be.

jampal

Hi,

Martin states in his thread that having the person covered rather than the car is a good thing. That may well depend on your circumstances. If you really need the automatic service and only ever use the one car I have found that Green Flag are quite cheap. It's an Automatic Service with home start and my premium is £29.00 for the year.

I haven't taken the offer yet as I need to check AutoAid first.

Cheers all,
James.